Philosopher disclaims 'ick factor,' demands Huckabee apology

Chicago philosopher Martha Nussbaum has rejected former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's claim that she's the source of a controversial phrase he used in discussing opposition to same-sex marriage.

Nussbaum, a distinguished liberal academic figure and the Ernst Freund Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, made her objections in an email to my colleague Andy Barr, who wrote this week on the controversy over Huckabee's use of the phrase "ick factor."

Huckabee had told the New Yorker, "I do believe that God created male and female and intended for marriage to be the relationship of the two opposite sexes. Male and female are biologically compatible to have a relationship. We can get into the 'ick factor,' but the fact is two men in a relationship, two women in a relationship, biologically, that doesn't work the same."

He later defended himself by saying that he hadn't suggested that he himself was relying on"personal aversion" for his opinions on homosexuality, and that indeed the phrase was drawn from the gay and lesbian movement itself, and specifically from Nussbaum's work.

She responds:

In a statement posted on Politico, former Governer Mike Huckabee imputes the phrase "ick factor" to me, and says that I use it to characterize the lesbian and gay community. He is quoted as saying, "Former colleague of then Professor Obama from the University of Chicago's Law School, Dr. Martha Nussbaum, has often made reference to the 'ick factor' in her professional writings and is credited with applying the phrase to the GLBT community."

In fact, I have never used the phrase "ick factor" in any of my three books dealing with the emotion of disgust, or in any articles. I use the term "projective disgust" to characterize the disgust that many people feel when they imagine gay sex acts. What does that term mean, and to whom does it apply? The view I develop, on the basis of recent psychological research, is that projective disgust has its origin in a discomfort with one's own body and its messier animal aspects, including sexuality, and that, in a defense mechanism, disgust is then projected outward onto vulnerable groups who are characterized as hyperphysical and hypersexual. In this way, the uncomfortable people displace their discomfort onto others, who are then targeted for various forms of social discrimination.

Thus the people to whom the term "projective disgust" applies are the insecure and emotionally stunted people who campaign against equal rights for gays and lesbians, not gays and lesbians themselves.

Mr. Huckabee has gotten bad information about my work and has completely turned its meaning upside down, imputing to me a position (that gays and lesbians are disgusting) that I criticize as childish and morally deficient.